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Global FinTech News - 21st of May 2021

Global FinTech News - 21st of May 2021
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #99 • View online
Dear fintech reader,
The Israel-Gaza violence is getting worse in the second week, with Israeli warplanes and rocket fires continuing to pound Gaza, as thousands of Palestinian protesters hitting the streets in cities across the West Bank. In India, many states are facing shortages of a drug used to treat black fungus, a rare and potentially fatal infection that is increasingly being detected in Covid-19 patients. In the Netherlands, Financial Services associations are making a plea for the government to take a stronger position on action against climate change.
We are back again on the news in fintech, exploring the newest trends from fintech - M&A, payments, cryptos, banking, trade finance, and more!
This Friday morning, our Founder & CEO, Don Ginsel, dived into ESG in finance services with Kevin Bourne, Managing Director at IHS Markit. Check out the video recording here.
From the Holland FinTech Team, we wish you a nice end of the week!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
Explore the latest fintech news for this week and dive into topics regarding M&A, tradings, crypto, data management, payments and more:
  • Tink, an open banking platform, has announced the acquisition of FinTecSystems, a German open banking infrastructure fintech
  • The European Central Bank has warned that the charges levied by banks for instant payments are proving a barrier to uptake and must change
  • Stripe, financial services and software as a service company, has acquired Bouncer, a fraud solutions provider
  • PayPal has agreed to buy Happy Returns, a start-up that lets shoppers return items they bought online in person
  • Metromile and Hippo, the two insurtech companies, joined forces to offer consumers a bundled auto and homeowners insurance product
  • Venmo, a mobile payment service company, says that US sanctions laws are behind recent moves to block some payments that include keywords related to Palestine
  • China has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions
  • Some of the largest U.S. banks plan to start sharing data on customers’ deposit accounts to extend credit to people who have lacked opportunities to borrow
  • Deutsche Bank and Silverflow, a payment technology provider, have announced a global partnership to support the bank’s payments strategy
Read more about this week’s news HERE
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The largest funding rounds we found from across the world
This week’s prominent fundings are shared by multiple sectors, including cyber security, insurance, debt management, cross-border payments, banking, investing, AI, brokerage, asset management, blockchain, trading, cloud computing and more. Dive into the funding rounds, we found between 12 May and 19 May:
  • Trade Republic (Berlin, Germany), a commission-free exchange-traded funds company, has raised $900 million (€736M) in a Series C round of funding
  • Redwood Software (Amsterdam, Netherlands), which offers a range of cloud-based business and IT process automation solutions, has secured €315 million in growth funding
  • Figure Technologies (San Francisco, California, US), a company providing AI, blockchain, and analytics for fintech companies, has announced closing a $200 m (€164M) Series D funding round
  • Ethos (San Francisco, California, US), an insurance company, achieved a $2 billion (€1.64Bn) valuation following a $200 million (€164M) Series D round
  • Similarweb (New York, New York, US), a platform for understanding online behavior by monitoring traffic on the web and mobile apps, raised $165 million (€135M)
  • Sunbit (Los Angeles, California, US), a company that has developed a buy-now-pay-later payment solution, has raised a $130 million (€106M) Series D funding round
  • Huobi Group (Seychelles), a blockchain technology company, has invested $69.42m (€57M) across hundreds of projects in blockchain, media, public blockchains, and stablecoins
  • Amount (Chicago, Illinois, US), a company that provides technology to banks and financial institutions, has raised $99 million (€81M) in a Series D funding round
  • NetSPI (Minneapolis, US), a cyber security company, has raised $90 million (€74M) in minority investments
  • Vise (New York, New York, US), an AI-powered investment management platform, has raised $65 million (€53M) in a Series C funding
  • Other fundings we found interesting include: Thunes (€50M), Copper (€41M), BukuKas (€41M), Rally (€25M), Stake (€25M), Credgenics (€20M), ThreatLocker (€16M), Zapper (€13M)
Read more about this week’s funding news HERE.
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A selection of recent research reports and papers worth reading
Dive into the latest statistics, ranging from internet safety and data privacy, ESG, global banks’ market capitalization, cryptocurrency, digital payments, insurtech and more:
  • “Millennials and Gen Zers are most likely to fall for phishing emails” (Atlasvpn) - Findings show that more than one-fifth (23%) of people from Generation Z and the Millennial generation have been tricked by phishing emails in the past
  • “Global banks’ market capitalization recovers to almost pre-pandemic levels” (Finbold.com) - Findings indicate that the market capitalization of all global banks has increased 47.9% between Q1 2020 to Q1 2021 from €4.9 trillion to €7.3 trillion
  • “Fact Check: The Truth Behind Five ESG Myths” (Visual Capitalist) - The study shows that throughout 2020, investors allocated over three times as many assets into environmental, social and governance (ESG) ETFs than in 2019
  • “Global Report on Women, Cryptocurrency and Financial Independence” (The Defiant) - The survey indicates that women make up 15-55% of crypto users, depending on the region with 36% of research participants said they originally became interested in cryptocurrencies because of the underlying technology
  • “Beyond the product: How industrial goods providers improve their competitive advantage with servitization” (Porsche-consulting.com) - This paper explores the solution for industrial goods executives to navigate their individual servitization journey
  • “Adapting to Survive: New Study Reveals the Importance of Digital Payments to Small and Micro Businesses in Mexico” (Nextbillion.net) - This report explores how businesses, development initiatives and the communities which serve low- and middle-income countries, are building greater resilience for a post-pandemic future
  • “KPI On The European InsurTech Scene” (Astorya.io) - This report presents an overview of KPIs for the European Insurtech industry
Read more about research papers HERE.
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Background information and insights from opinion leaders and experts
Get an overview of blockchain in capital markets, fintech startups in pre-IPO stock, the future of e-commerce, the future for banking:
  • “Blockchain in capital markets: Here’s what we’ve learned after 5 years of experimentation” via World Economic Forum - Ben Weisman, Project Lead at World Economic Forum and Roy Choudhury, Managing Director and Partner at BCG, highlight that many financial institutions and tech firms have invested in exploring distributed ledger technology (DLT), moving it from the margins to the mainstream
  • “Is buying and selling short positions in pre-IPO stock next? This fintech startup is banking on it” via Techcrunch - Connie Loizos, writer at Techcrunch, emphasizes the quick pace of deal making in the first quarter of 2021, where startups are routinely closing new rounds just months apart
  • “The Future of eCommerce” via Datafloq - Aakrit Vaish, writer at Datafloq, underlines that advancements in AI technology, specifically Natural Language Understanding (NLU), offer brands a far more seamless and sophisticated means of engaging customers
  • “SNL was a good night for Elon Musk — and a bad one for Dogecoin” via Protocol - David Pierce, editor at Protocol, reviews the session of Saturday Night Live hosted by Elon Musk
  • “Fintech Innovation Roadmap to drive a digital enabled net zero economic recovery” via Innovate Finance - FinTech Scotland is developing a ten-year business-led research and innovation roadmap which will support the growth of Scotland’s digital economy and development of fintech innovation across the UK
  • “Creating connections: the future for banking” via Fintech Futures - Matt Phillips, Head of Financial Services at Diebold Nixdorf, dives into bank branches in the UK and shifting consumer behaviours as a result of the Covid-19
Read more about these analyses & opinion pieces HERE.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
For Amsterdam FinTech Week 2021, you can expect a week full of events, with several highly anticipated keynotes, expert panels, workshops and startup pitches. And it’s a great way to meet the key players in the field, learn from each other and do business.
From the Holland Fintech Team, we are looking forward to seeing you during Amsterdam Fintech Week from 4-11 June.
Check the program and more HERE.
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Finnovex Europe - 24th - 25th May 2021
Finnovex is a series of Summits that examines the Future of Financial Services on how disruptive innovations are reshaping the way they are structured, provisioned and consumed.
Register HERE.
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Threat Intelligence Summit - Security Summits - 25th May 2021
SecurityWeek’s Threat Intelligence Summit is a virtual conference that allows attendees to immerse themselves in a virtual world and discuss the latest trends and insights on cyber threat intelligence (CTI).
Register HERE.
www.securitysummits.com  •  Share
Virtual event showcasing some of the leading fintech solutions that are transforming the role of treasury. Free to attend for corporate treasurers.
Register HERE.
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Ready to get involved? Click here to find out more.
Digital Transformation in Banking Summit - 27th - 28th May 2021
We are proud to host our 3rd Digital Transformation in Banking Summit, jointly represented by 25 leading speakers from Europe and a qualified gathering 200 attendees.
Register HERE.
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